Racial differences in socially desirable responding in selection contexts: magnitude and consequences

Two studies were conducted to examine the magnitude and consequences of racial differences on social desirability (SD) scales. Study 1 included 1,063 job applicants, and Study 2 included 3 sets of incumbents (total N = 534). In both studies, participants were administered several personality measures and an SD scale. Across all samples, Whites scored lower on the SD scale than Blacks (average d = .37), Hispanics (average d = .47), and Asians (average d = 1.04), but these differences were not observed on the personality scales. The consequence of differences in socially desirable responding (SDR) is that fewer minority group members would be selected if SD scales were used to derive cut scores to eliminate individuals from the applicant pool or if the scales were used to correct personality test scores for SDR. However, applying the SD correction did not affect the validity of the personality test for any of the racial groups. Overall, our findings suggest that researchers and practitioners should consider the use of SD scales very carefully, as their use may have unintended consequences. These studies also demonstrate a need to closely examine the construct validity of SD measures across diverse groups.     

The time course of semantic and associative priming effects is different in an attentional blink task

When two targets are presented using rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) and the interval between the targets is 200–500 ms, report of the second target is impaired, a phenomena known as the attentional blink (AB). This study examined the time course of semantic-only and associate–semantic priming effects during an AB task. Three RSVP experiments were conducted using targets that shared either a semantic-only or an associative–semantic relationship. The results of the three experiments demonstrated semantic-only priming effects at the shortest stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs). Associative–semantic priming was evident at shorter and longer SOAs. This suggests that priming in an AB task is driven by conceptual overlap facilitating lexical access at short SOAs and with longer SOAs lexical access benefits from word associations links between targets.     

Post-training ethanol disrupts trace conditioned fear in rats: effects of timing of ethanol, dose and trace interval duration

Ethanol has complex effects on memory performance, although hippocampus-dependent memory may be especially vulnerable to disruption by acute ethanol intoxication occurring during or shortly after a training episode. In the present experiments, the effects of post-training ethanol on delay and trace fear conditioning were examined in adolescent rats. In Experiment 1, 30-day-old Sprague-Dawley rats were given delay or trace conditioning trials in which a 10s flashing light CS was paired with a 0.5 mA shock US. For trace groups, the trace interval was 10 s. On days 31-33, animals were administered ethanol once daily (0.0 or 2.5 g/kg via intragastric intubation), and on day 34 animals were tested for CS-elicited freezing. Results showed that post-training ethanol affected the expression of trace, but had no effect on delay conditioned fear. Experiment 2 revealed that this effect was dose-dependent; doses lower than 2.5 g/kg were without effect. Experiment 3 evaluated whether proximity of ethanol to the time of training or testing was critical. Results show that ethanol administration beginning 24h after training was more detrimental to trace conditioned freezing than administration that was delayed by 48 h. Finally, in Experiment 4 animals were trained with one of three different trace intervals: 1, 3 or 10s. Results indicate that post-training administration of 2.5 g/kg ethanol disrupted trace conditioned fear in subjects trained with a 10s, but not with a 1 or 3s, trace interval. Collectively the results suggest that ethanol administration impairs post-acquisition memory processing of hippocampus-dependent trace fear conditioning.     

Further evaluation of morphine aversion: maintenance of a taste aversion using a low, nonaversive morphine dose

Previously, in an investigation of morphine-conditioned taste aversion (CTA), we found that limited preexposure to a low, nonaversive (non-CTA-inducing) dose of morphine (2.5 mg/kg) was as effective as preexposure to a higher, CTA-inducing dose (15 mg/kg) in blocking the formation of a subsequent morphine CTA. In the present study, we examined the capacity of this low, 2.5-mg/kg morphine dose to maintain a CTA initially induced by the 15-mg/kg dose. A standard CTA procedure was used. Results indicated that rats given three initial taste-drug pairings with 15 mg/kg morphine followed on subsequent pairing days by treatment with the low, non-CTA-inducing, 2.5-mg/kg dose continued to exhibit a strong CTA over 8 pairing days. A similar pattern was observed for animals continuing to receive taste-drug pairings with the 15-mg/kg dose. Animals receiving only one taste-drug pairing with the 15-mg/kg dose, followed on subsequent pairing days by 2.5-mg/kg conditioning, failed to show such a pattern of CTA. An intermediate CTA pattern was seen with animals conditioned with 15, 10, 5, and repeated 2.5-mg/kg doses over consecutive pairing days. These data suggest that exposure to a low dose of morphine, with no apparent CTA-inducing properties, is sufficient to maintain a previously established morphine taste aversion. Potential implications for understanding the apparent discriminative complexity of morphine's motivational properties are discussed.     

Practice and feedback effects on the confidence-accuracy relation in eyewitness memory

It has been claimed that the lack of a reliable confidence-accuracy relation in eyewitness memory stems from eyewitnesses' lack of knowledge concerning their relative expertise. Two studies tested this idea by contrasting the effects of practice alone with practice with feedback in three successive eyewitness tests. Experiment 1 tested recall for events, and Experiment 2 used recognition of faces as test materials. Both studies showed that practice alone did not increase the confidence-accuracy relation, but practice with feedback on relative performance produced robust increases in the confidence-accuracy relation. This suggests that lack of calibration is one factor that causes the reported lack of association between confidence and accuracy for eyewitness memory.     

Book Reviews

R. D. Laing & A. Esterson. Sanity, Madness and the Family (2nd edition). New York: Basic Books, 1971, $6.95. Reviewed by A. I. Rabin

B. Von Haller Gilmer. Psychology. New York: Harper & Row, 1970, 512 pages, $9.95. Reviewed by Eric C. Theiner, Ph.D.

Jean Piaget. Structuralism. New York: Basic Books, 1970, 153 pages, $5.95. Reviewed by Dale L. Johnson, Ph.D.

Lynette Shaw and Herbert Sichel. Accident Proneness: Research in the Occurrence, Causation and Prevention of Road Accidents. New York: Pergammon Press, 1971, 476 pages, $16.00. Reviewed by Louise Bates Ames

Ulf Kragh & Gudmund Smith, (Eds.). Percept-Genetic Analysis. Lund: Gleerups, 1970, 408 pages, 85:80 kroms, (or $17.68). Reviewed by Juris G. Draguns     

What does it take to implicitly prime low-frequency category exemplars?

Prominent views of implicit priming agree that repetition of category exemplars should increase the probability of the exemplar coming to mind on a category production test. This prediction has been borne out in the data of numerous experiments that have used relatively high-frequency exemplars, but experiments that have used lower frequency exemplars have reported reduced or no priming on category production tests. Frameworks of memory disagree on why frequency would affect priming. The authors report 3 experiments, the first of which shows no priming of low-frequency exemplars under circumstances that yield priming of higher frequency instances. The second 2 experiments show that low-frequency instances can be primed, but the prior experience must bias the comprehension of the category label, not the exemplar.